Mayors say illegal dumping draft bill doesn't fix problems

Village mayors say illegal dumping is getting out of hand, discussing a draft of a bill aimed to curb the trash during the Mayors Council of Guam meeting.

While they debate the bill, they aren't sitting by and watching the trash pile up. Agat Mayor Kevin Susuico recalls an incident that happened only two weeks ago, where trash was illegally dumped on the side of the road since it wasn't accepted to the Agat transfer station.

"The fines are not stiff enough the people that are out there they don't care they just want to hurry up and get rid of the items in their vehicle, I think personally the fines need to be a lot higher," he said.

Higher fines are one thing, but keeping people accountable to paying another. Ordot-Chalan Pago Mayor Jessy Gogue expressed his opposition to the current language of a Bill aimed to curb illegal dumping. He says it would not address the lack of partnership across departments.

"I personally don't think it's a good bill...because at the end of the day we're asking ourselves is this bill really going to make an impact on correcting the problem," he said. "It may move some monies around but if you take a look at the budgets there's never been any money in those accounts to begin with so how is that going to help anybody? The problem is in my opinion- the process...it's definitely isn't the money...because no money has been collected in the last 3 fiscal years. it has to be the process - or maybe it has something to do with the courts they see something that we don't see."

Sen. James Moylan plans to introduce a Bill that would amend the litter control recycling fund. He tells KUAM he wants to work with the Mayors to tackle litter control and find solutions, while also reaching out to Guam Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

However, Gogue, the Mayors Council liaison to the Legislature says it's not about the funding, but the process to keep violators accountable.

"So we can issue citations for littering that occurs in our village, but the question then becomes what if the person that littered is from another jurisdiction," he said. "So setting aside the funds collected, whether it's $100, $250, or $1000, setting that aside, I think what needs to be addressed is the process and the partnership in taking care of this problem."

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